As many employees know, when we adopt a new policy or make substantial changes to an existing policy, we post the drafts on the Policy Development Page, so the Drake community can share its thoughts.

While there is a long list of policies slowly being reviewed by Drake Human Resources, we have three ready for comment.

First, Drake HR was asked a while back by All Staff Council to take a look at the Staff Learning and Development Leave policy as it was viewed as being perhaps too vague to give the reader the idea of what kinds of leave might permissibly fall under the policy. We worked to add some more detail and examples in hopes of the policy being more informative. The updated (clean) version is posted for comment.

Second, while working on updating the faculty recruitment process, we heard from deans that the University’s Relocation Expense Reimbursement Policy would benefit from some updates and additional flexibility. Working with Finance, we are posting a revised (clean) version of that policy for comment.

Lastly, Drake’s Non-Discrimination and Discriminatory Harassment Policy needed a few tweaks. It coexists with Drake’s Sexual Harassment Policy and the two had been revised and edited in slightly different ways over the years. We needed to bring them into greater alignment. We are posting the redlined and proposed version of the policy, so readers can see the proposed changes.

If you have comments on any of these three policies, please use the comment function through the Policy Development Page. These policies will remain posted for comment through Friday, April 7, 2023.

Drake HR is also working on reviewing a number of leave policies. This review has been very slow due to competing priorities, but we are making an effort to get back to those prior to the close of the spring semester. If you are aware of a HR policy in need of review or adoption, please let us know at drakehr@drake.edu.

— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources